PROVIDENCE--As each member of the No. 1 Harvard women's hockey team skated to center ice to receive her ECAC championship trophy, there was an extra-special hop in her step. The Crimson had just capped perhaps its most dramatic finish in a brilliant, action-packed season.
Indeed, the 5-4 overtime win in the finals of the ECAC Tournament yesterday against No. 2 UNH (22-6-5, 19-4-3 ECAC) was the biggest victory of the season for Harvard (31-1-0, 24-1-1). By winning the ECAC Tournament championship game, the Crimson captured its first-ever ECAC crown and extended its winning streak to 28 games.
Harvard reached the finals by blowing out No. 6 Dartmouth (16-9-5, 14-7-5) on Saturday afternoon 8-1 in the semifinal.
Two even bigger games now loom ahead for the Crimson next weekend in the American Women's College Hockey Alliance National Championship tournament at the University of Minnesota. Harvard received the top seed in the AWCHAs and will face No. 4 seed Brown (20-4-4, 19-4-3) Friday night. If the Crimson wins, it would face either No. 2 seed UNH or No. 3 seed Minnesota (27-3-3) Saturday in the final. If Harvard faces UNH, it would be the teams' fourth meeting of the season.
For now, Harvard can revel in a spectacular weekend in which it won every award--individual and team. It added even more metal to a 1998-99 trophy case that includes the Beanpot, Ivy League and ECAC regular season championships. And after yesterday's performance, the Crimson is still on a roll to the tune of 28 straight.
"We had a lot of success during the season but that wouldn't have mattered if we had lost today," said co-captain A.J. Mleczko, the MVP of the ECAC Tournament, Ivy League and ECAC. "We realized that we needed to come out and put our hearts on the line and see what we were made of. UNH showed a lot of character with two quick goals in the third period but luckily we were able to tie it up and ultimately win."
Harvard 5, UNH 4
Harvard controlled the puck for most of the 75 seconds of overtime and outshot UNH 4-0. The game-winner came after sophomore winger Tammy Shewchuk intercepted the puck in the offensive zone and immediately found Mleczko at the right post. Mleczko fired but was stopped twice by UNH junior goaltender Alicia Roberts, who ended up sprawled on the ice. Mleczko then pulled back the puck and sent it high into the net to give Harvard the conference title.
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